Yuanyuan Yang’s Beams of Desire

In Yuanyuan Yang‘s latest body of work, rays of rainbow colors radiate from the ears, mouths and fingertips of young children, shooting at other children and objects like aggressive weapons. Yang recently opened a solo show titled “Refracted Beings” at New York’s Fuse Gallery, focusing on the connotations from Chinese culture to create a dialogue about suffering and desire. In Chinese culture and language, there is a strong link between color and desire; “color” and “lust” are homonyms, and in Buddhist doctrine, the material world is referred to as the “color world.” With this idea in mind, it is easy to see how the brilliant, attractive colors in Yang’s paintings can lead to pleasure or destruction, much like our own desires when they go unchecked. Take a look at some of the works in the show, images courtesy of Fuse Gallery, and check out the exhibition before it closes on November 21.